


A Nightmare Before Christmas

by Ironfrost



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Crack, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-19
Updated: 2013-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-05 04:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1089493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ironfrost/pseuds/Ironfrost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grantaire doesn't feel like going home for Christmas, so Enjolras convinces him to spend the Christmas holiday with his family. Grantaire tries to refuse, but Enjolras insists. After all, his sister Cosette is bringing her boyfriend, and even his dad said he had invited someone. It is shaping up to be a great Christmas until Grantaire realises he has had a run-in with Valjean's boyfriend, the police officer Javert, in his past, and it was not a happy one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Nightmare Before Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alaz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alaz/gifts).



> As I was reading through the requests, I immediately had an idea and thought "yeeees, this will be good". Hopefully this is what you were looking for. 
> 
> Merry Christmas! xx

'Twas the night before Christmas,   
when all through the street,   
not a creature was stirring  
except for Enjolras's boyfriend, who is totally freaking out

 

“Are you sure this is okay?”

“For the last time, R, yes!”

“It's just, I've never met them before, and is really Christmas the best time to..”

Enjolras interrupts Grantaire's speech before he goes all hysterical. “Grantaire! You were in the room when I called to ask. Both my father and my sister were happy about you coming along with me. Cosette was ecstatic, even. They're both really looking forward to meet you. So please, for the love of all that is holy, calm down!”

Grantaire takes a deep, shaky breath. “Okay,” he finally says.

It had only been a couple of weeks earlier when it had been decided that Grantaire was going to go to Enjolras's house for Christmas. When Enjolras learned that Grantaire wasn't planning to go home for Christmas, he refused to let his boyfriend stay behind at college, and immediately called home to check if he could bring Grantaire along. Grantaire had been mortified and tried to refuse, but Enjolras had used his persuasive voice, and Grantaire eventually found himself agreeing. But now, as they were driving down to Enjolras's home town, Grantaire was gradually freaking more and more out.

“It's just...” Grantaire starts again, and Enjolras sighs deeply.

“Grantaire..” he warns tiredly.

“No, hear me out. Christmas is a time to be with your family. I don't want to intrude on that.”

“It's not intruding if I want you to be there,” Enjolras says quietly, effectively shutting Grantaire up, who blushes slightly by that comment. “Besides, you're not gonna be the only non-family member there. Cosette's boyfriend is going to be there too, apparently he's not on any speaking terms with his family. And my father said he'd invited someone as well. If you hadn't come along, I would have been the only one there who didn't bring anyone.”

This seems to reassure Grantaire, and for the rest of the trip, he doesn't bring it up again. But when they arrive, Enjolras can see that Grantaire is nervous again, afraid even. He reach over to the passenger seat, and gives Grantaire’s hand a comforting squeeze.

“Relax. They'll love you,” he smiles. 

“Are you sure?” Grantaire asks nervously. 

“They'll love you because I love you.” Enjolras doesn't often tell him that, and judging by the frankly surprising smile Grantaire sends him, he really should tell him that more often.

“I love you too,” Grantaire says, leaning over to give Enjolras a quick kiss. They get out of the car, pulls out the suitcases from the boot, and walks up to the door.

“Just relax. Everything will be fine,” Enjolras says, before opening the door, and shouting into the hallway “Anybody home?”

Approximately 0.3 seconds later a blur of blonde curls comes running from the living room and launches itself at Enjolras.

“YOU'RE HOME!” a clear voice exclaims, kissing him repeatedly.

“Yes, I'm home. Nice to see you too,” Enjolras laughs, and hugs the girl back. After a while the vice-like grip becomes too much for him, and Enjolras has to wriggle himself out of it.

“Sis, you're choking me,” he says, and she finally lets go.

“Sorry, not sorry. You should come home more often,” she says. “And who is this?” she asks, turning towards Grantaire. Enjolras's smile becomes bigger.

“Cosette, this is Grantaire. Grantaire, this is, as you might have figured out, my younger sister Cosette.”

Looking at them both, Grantaire has no problems believing they are siblings. They both have the same blonde hair, the same blue eyes, and the same curved smile. Both are breathtakingly beautiful. Grantaire clears his throat, and extends his hand.

“Nice to meet you,” he says. Cosette ignores the hand and pulls Grantaire in for a hug. Grantaire is slightly bewildered, but relaxes after a while and hugs her back. When she lets go, she eyes him carefully.

“You told me he was a painter, you didn't mention he was a model,” Cosette says. Grantaire blushes again, and Enjolras nudges his sister.

“Stop it, you're making him uncomfortable.” 

Cosette just winks at them both in return.

“Is dad here?” Enjolras asks.

“No, he went to get Javert,” she answers, still looking at Grantaire.

“Who?”

“His new boyfriend. I've met him a couple of times, he's nice. He's been transferred here as the new police commissioner.” Then she spins around to look at look at her brother.

“But never mind that, you have to meet Marius! He arrived just before you did.” She grabs a hold of Enjolras's hand, and drags him along into the living room. Enjolras sends Grantaire a part exasperated, part amused look as Grantaire follows them. 

Their living room is larger than Grantaire's entire home, and it is richly furnished. A large Christmas tree is dominating the view, and next to it there is a sofa so huge Grantaire almost misses the sandy-haired boy sitting in it. He gets up as they all enter, and Cosette bounces over to him. 

“This is Marius. Marius, meet my brother Enjolras and his boyfriend Grantaire.”

Grantaire shakes his hand while Enjolras goes into “protective older brother”-mode.

“So Marius, what do you do?”

He looks uncertainly at Cosette, then Enjolras.

“Uhm, I'm in high school..”

Not satisfied with the answer, Enjolras goes on to ask him about his political affiliations when Cosette intervenes.

“Oh god, lighten up Enjolras, it's Christmas!” 

Enjolras begrudgingly goes quiet, while Grantaire watches amused. 

After a few more pleasantries are exchanged, and Enjolras has managed to scare the living daylights out of poor Marius, they venture on to drop the baggage off in Enjolras's room. As they get upstair, Grantaire finally lets out a breath.

“She seems nice,” he says. Enjolras laughs.

“She's nuts. But I love her,” he says fondly. 

Grantaire has never seen Enjolras like this before. He's usually pretty severe, and his smiles can be hard to come by. But this, this is a completely different side of him. Grantaire is really happy he came along , even if only to experience this Enjolras. The brother. The son. 

The one with the frankly insane bedroom.

When they finally manage to drag both their suitcases into the room, Grantaire has to make a double take. This room goes against everything he'd ever learned about Enjolras. His dorm room is impeccably neat and tidy, while it seems to have been an explosion in here. There are books resting on every available surface except for in the two large bookcases, which are filled with clothes. The wardrobe doors are open and reveals shelves filled with even more books and stacks of paper. His walls are covered in large posters depicting films from every era over the last century. 

Enjolras looks at Grantaire, who's currently taking in the scene with his mouth half-open.

“Sorry about the mess,” Enjolras says. Grantaire slowly manages to tear his gaze away from the room and looks at him.

“Who ARE you?” Grantaire asks. Enjolras only laughs, and is about to answer when they are interrupted by loud noises emanating from the front door.

“Ah, that must be dad,” Enjolras says, leading Grantaire our of the room again.

Downstairs, two men has just entered. 

“Dad!” Enjolras exclaims, running down the last bit of the stairs.

“Enjolras, you're early,” he answers, pulling his son in for a hug, before looking at him properly. “Your hair is getting long.” Enjolras doesn't have time to answer before his father continues. “Enjolras, I want you to meet someone very special. This is Javert. Javert, this is my son Enjolras.”

The other man smiles and extends his hand in greeting. “So you're the infamous Enjolras? Your father has told me a lot about you.”

Enjolras takes his hand. “I wish I could say the same to you.” They all laugh. 

“Dad,” Enjolras says, pulling Grantaire down the last steps, “This is Grantaire!” 

Enjolras's father looks at Grantaire with a scrutinising eye, before shaking his hand. “Nice to meet you!”

“Likewise,” Grantaire says. Then he gets a proper look at the man Javert, and promptly loses all colour in his face. Because he has met Javert before, and it was not a happy encounter. But it was a long time ago, and while Javert has not changed at all, Grantaire has. Grantaire is not a praying man, but at this moment he finds himself pleading with all higher powers for Javert not to recognise him. 

And when Javert looks at Grantaire and only giving him a nod, he silently whispers a thanks. It's a Christmas miracle. 

 

When it's time to eat dinner, Grantaire has mostly calmed down. He figures that as long as he keeps a low profile, there is no way Javert will remember him. But of course that is not going to work. As this is the first time Enjolras has ever brought someone home with him, both Cosette and their father is very interested in learning as much about Grantaire as possible. It goes smoothly for a while, until the inevitable happens.

“So I hear you are quite a talented artist,” Valjean says. Javert looks at Grantaire.

“I'm okay,” Grantaire mumbles.

“He's more than okay,” Enjolras offers. “He really has a gift. He was even approached by the school administrators to paint this huge mural on the wall of the art department. It's beautiful.”

Javert's eyes narrows slightly. Oh no. 

It goes silent for a bit after that.

“Javert, is everything okay?” Valjean asks concerned, as Javert still keeps glancing towards Grantaire. 

“Yes, of course. It's just... I feel like I've seen you before,” he answers, still looking at Grantaire. “Have we possibly met before?” he asks. 

“No!” Grantaire says, a little too quickly. “I mean, no, I don't think so.”

Javert is about to speak again, but thankfully Marius manages to drop the gravy boat, and everyone is momentarily distracted. When they have cleaned up most of the mess, and Marius has apologised about three hundred times, the topic of Grantaire is dropped. 

Grantaire never got around to tell Enjolras about his life before he went to college, and to be honest, it is not a conversation he was hoping to have anytime soon. He's not ready to bring that part of his life into the relationship just yet, but he's fearing the presence of Javert will make that conversation necessary soon. 

 

Later that evening, when they are all gathered in the living room, the subject of Grantaire's artistic abilities are brought up again when Cosette asks what kind of art he does.

“Modern, mostly,” Grantaire says tentatively. “You know, splatting paint on canvases and calling it stuff like 'The inner turmoil of a chicken'.”

“He's also quite skilled with graffiti,” Enjolras says. “You should see some of the works he's created.”

And that's when Javert realises why Grantaire looks so familiar. Grantaire notices the look on Javert's face a split second before he speaks, and he feels like he's about to faint. 

“Grantaire,” he says, sickly sweet. “You know, I think we have actually met before.”

“I think you have me mistaken for someone else,” Grantaire tries, but to no avail. It's too late.

“I think not. I remember you now. You're the one who vandalised the wall of the police station where I worked a few years back.”

Enjolras is about to tell Javert he's got the wrong person when he notices the expression on Grantaire's face.

“Grantaire...?” he says uncertain.

“No, that wasn't me, that...” Grantaire starts, but Javert interrupts him.

“That was indeed you, I caught you red-handed. You wrote 'FUCK THE POLICE' and then drew an impressively detailed picture of one police officer fellating another one.”

Grantaire tries to vanish between the sofa cushions as Cosette shrieks with laughter. Marius and Valjean share the same expression of uncomfortable bewilderment while Enjolras looks confused from Javert to Grantaire. 

“You know, that was a felony of the worst degree,” Javert continues. “And graffiti does not easily come off. The entire wall had to be repainted. And what did you do to make up for this? You disappeared.”

“I was just...” Grantaire says, but is interrupted again.

“ADMIT IT!” Javert shouts, standing up. “I think maybe a phone call to my old police station might be in order.”

This rouses Valjean.

“Javert, please,” he starts. “Obviously, if it even was him..”

“It was him, I'm sure of it! I never forget a face!”

“Okay, but that was years ago. He was young, he didn't know any better. Don't let this ruin a nice Christmas.”

“The law is the law, Valjean!”

Valjean looks at his children and their guests.

“Maybe it's time you all went to bed. I need to have a word with Javert in private.”

None of them needs to be asked twice, and disappears out into the hallway and upstairs as Javert's voice grows louder. Cosette, still chuckling, gives Grantaire a big hug.

“You are a hero,” she says. She then gives Enjolras a big kiss.

“Good night,” she says lightly. “Lock the doors so Javert doesn't kidnap Grantaire to haul him off in the middle of the night.”

Enjolras bids both Cosette and Marius a weary goodnight, before ushering Grantaire inside his room. He does lock the door, which Grantaire chooses to take as a good sign. That means he's not going to throw him out.

“You want to explain that?” Enjolras asks, giving Grantaire a serious look. 

“It's a long story,” Grantaire says, looking at the floor.

In response, Enjolras goes over to the bed, throws the discarded books and clothes on the floor, sits down and pats on the spot next to him. As Grantaire sits down, he says “Well, we have about two weeks. That should suffice.” He smiles, which surprises Grantaire. 

“You're not angry?” he asks slowly.

“I'm confused. I need you to fill me in here. As of now, I'm not angry. I might, however, be a little impressed.”

It would seem Enjolras will never seize to amaze Grantaire. And even though he's still not ready for this conversation, he feels owes it to him. 

As he searches for the words to start, he thinks that this Christmas might be a little complicated. But as long as he has Enjolras, he wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
